European markets to open lower as Turkey’s deepening economic crisis sparks contagion fears

European markets are set to open lower on Monday morning, as investors monitored renewed trade tensions and a deeper slide in the Turkish lira.

The FTSE 100 is seen 35 points lower at 7,628; the CAC is expected to open down around 31 points at 5,374 while the DAX is poised to start off by 90 points at 12,322, according to IG data.

Market focus is largely attuned to Turkey’s financial woes, with the country’s currency taking another slide to all-time lows of 7.2400 on Monday morning. The lira briefly recovered some of its recent losses over the weekend, after Ankara’s finance minister said the country had drafted an action plan to ease investor concerns and the banking watchdog announced it had limited swap transactions.

However, the lira tumbled again amid broader investor concerns over Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s increasing control over the economy and the country’s worsening relationship with the U.S. The lira has since pared some of its losses to trade at around 6.64 against the dollar at 6:50 a.m. London time.

Most Asian equities slipped on Monday morning, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, down more than 1.3 percent.

Back in Europe, Britain and the European Union (EU) are reportedly scheduled to resume Brexit talks after a summer break. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019; but negotiating teams are still hashing out the details of an accord that will allow them to keep frictionless trade.

Meanwhile, on the data front, Italy’s final reading of inflation for July is due to be published at around 9 a.m. BST. Elsewhere, oil traders are likely to keep a close eye on the release of OPEC’s monthly report.

Source: CNBC